The Wizard Of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was the premiere attraction at the Majestic Theatre on the west side of Columbus Circle (demolished in 1954), and it also marked the legitimate theatre debut of two vaudeville clowns, Dave Montgomery and Fred Stone, as the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow. In the spectacular production, which L. Frank Baum adapted from his own fairytale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a cyclone blows Dorothy and her pet cow all the way from Kansas to the country of the Munchkins. After meeting the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy takes her three new friends on a number of adventures until they finally meet the Wizard in the Emerald City. The Victor Herbert-Glen MacDonough Babes in Toyland, a successor to The Wizard of Oz, followed it into the Majestic. In 1939, the classic screen version featured Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, and Jack Haley, and a new score by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. The Wiz, a contemporary black variation, opened on Broadway in 1975. (See page 241.) TW (film score).

Music

Paul Tietjens, A. Baldwin Sloane

Lyrics

L. Frank Baum

Book

L. Frank Baum